This invention relates to a system including method and apparatus for immersion electroplating flat objects and particularly printed circuit boards (PCBs). Most PCBs are flat and represent an opportunity to optimize the electroplating configuration to the specific need of plating flat goods with holes of only limited extent.
There has always existed a general need to perform electroplating of a high-quality, uniform deposit in a minimal amount of time. Recent proposals for high-speed plating of PCBs have developed methods which avoid immersion techniques in favor of spray nozzle designs. The need for abandoning immersion systems has been thought to involve the low-current density limits imposed by such systems and the long cycle times which are required. In non-immersion systems, plating cycle times of as short as ten (10) minutes are known, but were believed impossible to achieve with immersion techniques. By abandoning immersion techniques, the advantages of immersion were also lost. There is, therefore, a need for a new and improved system for electroplating flat goods, particularly PCBs wherein high quality electroplating by immersion can be finished in about ten minutes or less.